Preparations for providing high-speed Fibre To The Home (FTTH) offices of all 258 gram panchayats under the Digital India programme has been completed, said O. Prashanth, Deputy General Manager of BSNL (Hassan Circle), here on Saturday.
The FTTH provides high-speed internet services, starting from 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps for gram panchayat offices.
“We have laid optical fibre cable for about 282 km. in Hassan to connect all gram panchayats. The programme will be launched on July 1 across the country,” he said. The facility would improve internet-based services to public at gram panchayats. “There are several complaints of delay in providing documents and transfer of khatas owing to poor internet services. The FTTH will put an end to all such problems,” he said.
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Initially, the GPs would be connected under the scheme, which carries minimum monthly charge of Rs. 3,999. In the days to come, the services would be extended to individuals, those willing to take up the service.
Landline
Mr. Prashanth said, since the introduction of free night calling for landline phones, the demand for landline telephone connections had gone up in the district.
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The scheme came into effect from May 1. “Because of the new scheme, number of landline connections has increased by 462. Besides, earlier the number of applications for closure of account had come down. There used to be several applications seeking closure for connections,” he said.
No hidden charges
The official said that BSNL had been providing best possible services for both landline and mobile phone customers. “We don’t collect any hidden charges. Our billing is accurate. From June 15, incoming calls on roaming are free. These measures will help attract new customers,” he said.
Mr. Ravishankar, AGM (Admin) and other officials of BSNL were present.